Bobby Shuttleworth takes the short path from UB star to MLS starter

“I was lucky that I got to play with so many great players, and we played some really good teams.”

Bobby Shuttleworth

Maggie Hoeltke wasn’t exactly thrilled when her son, Bobby
Shuttleworth, decided to skip his senior year at UB to pursue his
dream of becoming a professional soccer goalie. “I supported
him 100 percent,” she says, “[but] as a mom, I was
worried.”

She needn’t have been.

In less than a year, Shuttleworth went from finishing a stellar
2008 season at UB (he had 65 saves and a goals-against average of
0.63 per game—the second best in UB history) to brief stints
with the Kalamazoo Outrage and the Austin Aztex of the Premier
Development League, to signing with the New England Revolution
of Major League Soccer—the highest level of professional
soccer in the U.S.

In the past year, his fifth with the Revs, the 26-year-old
goalkeeper has asserted himself as a starter, recording 64 saves
and nine shutouts, while helping New England reach the MLS playoffs
for the first time since 2009.

Shuttleworth, a native of Tonawanda, N.Y. (a Buffalo suburb),
attributes much of his success as a pro to his time at UB.

“I was lucky that I got to play with so many great
players, and we played some really good teams,” he remembers.
“I think that was really important. It made the transition to
the next level a lot easier.”

The most difficult part of his transition may have been leaving
his hometown for Beantown. He likes Boston—and loves his
neighborhood—but there are some cravings that charming
cul-de-sacs and winning sports teams can’t satisfy.

“One thing about Buffalo is that everyone is
spoiled,” Shuttleworth says. “The food is so
good.”